Double stacked box cars at sunset casting fun shadows. However, I really like the long lines this photo presents.
A train car, so what? Well, what's unusual is, there aren't train tracks that lead to this train car. Yet there it sits on a farm. How did they get the train car to this location without any tracks?
Many different ways to travel all intersect above, below and side by side. My location is the Wabasha Street Bridge looking east.
These track span the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge. It was built in 1913 by the Chicago Great Western Railroad
Hanging warning lights for a railroad crossing. They almost look like they are lit up, but I believe it's due to the suns reflection, which was near sunset. If you look at the reflection, you can see the sun and how close to the horizon it is.
The train was moving around 35 mph, I was waiting for it to pass, about 15 feet from it. It took me a few shots, but I worked on my pan and shoot technique the other day to kill the time.
Hummm, it's either the Hayes Model EB device attached to the train track or it's the bird seed sprinkled on the side. Take your pick.
The humorous thing about this photo was, during my walk on Sunday with my wife and kids, we were sitting on a bench along the walking path taking a quick break from walking. The distant sounds of a locomotive was approaching, interrupting the peace and quietness of our nature walk. The roar of the engine sped past our view and right there from the very park bench I was sitting on gave me this great reflective view of the passing train. How often do you not have to move from your location to get a bonus photo for your blog? How cool is that?
Captured this one, from this past spring, of the passing train. The tracks run along the Mississippi River and Sheppard Road. If you follow the buildings in the background up, you'd see downtown St Paul.
The lift bridge in St Paul that crosses over the Mississippi River is for trains only. It's still in use today, but the trains typically travel rather slow in this area. The train tracks curve under the Robert Street Bridge and along the river. If you follow this set of tracks, you'll run into the switching yard that I've recently posted a couple of photos of. [scroll down a couple days]
If I were to back up just a bit and give a panoramic view of the train switching yard, you'll see a lot more of what is there to see. I'm not sure how many train tracks they have in this yard, but it's something grand to see when it is full of trains. The switching yard also runs through, or around Pig's Eye Lake. Technically it is really part of the Mississippi River, but they like to name some of the bays Lakes. If you click the photo, I've enlarged the photo to 1600 x 600 in size.
What you're looking at is part of the rail road switching yard in St Paul that runs along Highway 61. On the other side of the control center, out of site, is the Mississippi River. You can see the one car in the photo, this is the employee parking lot, you walk up the stairs and cross over the railroad tracks to the control room. The exact location of this place is almost as far south in St Paul one could get. It's about half mile to a mile north of the St Paul border where Highway 494 and Highway 61 cross. Newport is directly south of this location. Most people who know this area, honestly don't realize this is part of St Paul.
These train tracks lie in Hastings near the Hastings Flour Mill. I took this photo in late spring. The train was not moving, but I like the low perspective of this shot.
